Wall Street Journal: WikiLeaks worse than News of the World

The News Corporation-owned Wall Street Journal blasted “self-appointed media paragons” who were quick to attack the British tabloid News of the World but not the release of classified information by Julian Assange’s WikiLeaks.

The tabloid, also owned by News Corp., closed down after an investigation revealed it had participated in the phone hacking of celebrities, British politicians, the families of terrorist attack victims, dead soldiers and others.

“The damage caused by WikiLeaks almost certainly exceeded what was done by News of the World, precisely because Mr. Assange and his media enablers were targeting bigger—if often more vulnerable—game,” Bret Stephens, a deputy editor for the Journal, wrote in an editorial published Tuesday.

The country’s leading financial newspaper accused WikiLeaks of endangering the safety of public figures by publishing a vast trove of leaked U.S. State Department diplomatic cables.

The editorial claimed the release of classified information by WikiLeaks and the phone hacking conducted by News of the World are “largely the same story,” noting that both incidents involved secret information being illegal obtained and published.

“So why is one a scandal, replete with arrests, resignations and parliamentary inquests, while the other is merely a controversy, with Mr. Assange’s name mooted in some quarters for a Nobel Peace Prize?” Stephen asks.

About the Author

Eric W. Dolan has served as an editor for Raw Story since August 2010,
and is based out of Sacramento, California. He grew up in the suburbs
of Chicago and received a Bachelor of Science from Bradley University.
Eric is also the publisher and editor of the psychology news website PsyPost. You can follow him on
Twitter @ewdolan.